The past few days have been cool and wet so we haven’t been out much. Now the forecast for today was to be a little warmer and sunny so drove about 30 miles to the coast to visit Cedar Key. This small island community is a historic port and was once a major supplier of seafood and timber products.

One of the first things we saw when we arrived was a handful of old cars parked near the marina. That caught Bernie’s attention for several minutes.

Old Cars

We walked around the marina and along some of the historic streets enjoying the nice shops and restaurants. We did stop for a cup of the world’s best clam chowder, made from local clams.

Cedar Key

Cedar Key

We stopped at the Cedar Key Historical Museum (The Andrews House) and learned about the history of the area and were greeted by Dr. Andrews who was born in the same house that is now the Museum. He gave us a tour and demonstrated to us how his father had begun the business of extracting fiber from the palm trees that grew in the area. He also made whisk brooms from the fiber, and the business became a major industry in the community.

A large shell mound, now a county park, can be found outside of town. 28 feet high and covering around 5 acres this 6,000 year old mound consists of oyster shells, fish, turtle, and deer bones, remnants of unknown cultures. Now overgrown with trees and brush a trail takes you around the area where you can still see millions of the shells that make up the area.

Shell Mound County Park at Cedar Key

The sun left us for most of the day and rain was intermittent. We drove home in the rain.